There have been multiple reports of the new, supposedly safe, Galaxy Note7s overheating and catching fire – reigniting a crisis that was supposed to be over.

To recap: reports that the batteries in the new, flagship Samsung Galaxy Note7 phablets were dangerously overheating began in early September. Samsung initially halted sales and eventually embarked on a recall and replacement programme, which included putting reassuring green logos on the new, non-explosive devices.

So happy was Samsung with its swift handling of the crisis it even had the gall to claim a PR win, which it surely wouldn’t have done unless it was totally, utterly, 100% sure the matter had been conclusively resolved. For the problem to arise once more, like a phablet from the flames, in devices that have explicitly been deemed safe, is therefore an utter humiliation.

It seems that the major US operators have halted sales of the Note7 on the back of the new incidents and are actively offering to replace any they’ve already sold for alternative devices. Meanwhile the WSJ has sources telling it Samsung has pulled the plug on the manufacture of Note 7s for the time being while it tries to get its head around this latest setback.

The levels of panic, hysteria, recrimination, and sacking at Samsung Towers must have reached new extremes today. It’s really hard to derive any positive from this for Samsung and hopefully its opportunistic comms team won’t be tempted to try this time. It might be time to make a whole new device with very different branding, something like the Samsung Galaxy Notexplosiveatallhonest, and just write the Note7 off as a billion dollar mistake before things get even worse.